1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrostatic recording apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine etc., and more particularly to apparatus wherein the toner collected in the cleaning device is removed to the developing device so as to be used for a succeeding developing operation.
2. Prior Art of the Invention
An electrostatic recording apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine etc. generally requires time and labor for the maintenance, for example, to change the used cleaning web consumed with use or to throw away the toner collected in the cleaning device. However, such regular or irregular maintenance requires substitution expense for the personnel necessary for such maintenance and therefore it has recently become desirable to provide a device which automatically conveys the toner collected in the cleaning device to the developing device.
In order to satisfy such desire, as is shown in Japanese Patent Publication Open-to-Public Inspection No. 45933/1972 for example, a toner recovering device has so far been proposed wherein a bead-chain is arranged between the cleaning device and the toner replenishing tank and the toner collected in the cleaning device adheres to the bead-chain and is conveyed to the toner replenishing tank. However, in such toner recovering device, the toner conveyed by the bead-chain did not surely come off the bead in the toner replenishing tank, and the percentage of the toner that recycled without coming off the bead-chain was large.